Shy Girl
by WarriorsFan123
Summary: Luminara does NOT want a padawan. But with such a sweet girl standing in front of you, it's hard to say no. I don't know how to describe the bond Luminara and Barriss have... Mother/Daughter, Best friends, Sisters? I'm not quite sure. But you all know what it's supposed to be like. No Romance! I own nothing! One-shot.
**Hi there my fellow Barriss and Luminara lovers! At least, I'm assuming that's who you're here to read about. They are two of my most favorite characters, but there are, like, _no_ stories about the two of them bonding. So, I finally made one. This is how I picture they first met.**

 **I also know they are going to seem like themselves, but not like themselves. The reason for that is that I wanted to show how they changed each other's lives by becoming a master/padawan duo. Until they met, Luminara was less mature, responsible, and patient, and Barriss was less confident, less trusting and a little on the stressed side.**

 **There is _no romance_! Not even between Barriss and Tutso. These are all _family bonds_.**

 **Well, thanks guys, I really hope you love this story. Read on!**

* * *

Luminara Unduli swore she would never have a padawan. She had seen the terrible arguments, fights, backtalk and complications between masters and padawans during the time she grew up. She even had issues with her own master from time to time. She did _not_ want a padawan. She wanted nothing to do with one. Even as she walked down the hall, she saw an infuriated teen storm away from a frustrated looking older woman.

The thirty-one year old Mirialian shook her head in disgrace.

The other woman having seen her gesture, smiled with an interesting mix of frustration and patience. "Unbearable, aren't they?"

Luminara laughed quietly and replied, "I don't know how you do it, Vallary."

"Well, she's just a child. As long as I remember that, it's not quite as hard."

"It looks hard regardless."

Luminara and Vallary had been friends since grade school. Vallary knew very well that Luminara didn't want a padawan. She'd dropped the subject for almost four years, thinking her Mirialian friend would change her mind. However, the headstrong Jedi knight was still turning down all the opportunities she was given to teach. Therefore, Vallary had been trying lately to convince her best friend to change her mind.

"It's really not, actually." Vallary insisted. "As a matter of fact, it's quite wonderful. It's a great feeling to have a child love you and look up to you and form a deep bond with you."

"That does _not_ look like a bond to me."

"Oh, come _on_ Luma'! What are you so afraid of!" She wailed desperately.

"No. Stop trying to convince me, okay? I don't want to be involved." And then, turning to leave, "Good day."

"Luminara, wait."

The Jedi kept walking as her friend ran to catch up.

"Luminara, please stop."

She continued to ignore her.

Vallary grabbed her arm to stop her. "Luminara."

" _What_?" She snapped.

"Look, I'm not saying you've gotta' bring her or him home, but at least look at a few younglings to take into consideration."

"…I don't know Val'."

"Please. I'll come with you. You can talk to the council and arrange a meeting, you can stick to your padawan-from-Mirial tradition, if you want a girl or a boy, you can decide, just do whatever you want but at least give it a shot."

"…Okay, yeah… _Yeah_. Yeah, let's totally do it." Luminara smiled, getting excited. Maybe it _could_ be kind of fun.

* * *

"A master?" Barriss whimpered quietly, her voice trailing off.

"Is there a problem with that?" Tutso asked, looking dumbfounded.

"I just… What if… I don't know. It's a big change, that's all." The thirteen-year-old youngling said, her voice heavy with anxiety. Most of her life, she had been awaiting the moment she would get a master. But now she was content with life where she was. She also was going through the process of coming of age, which was enough frightening and confusing change already.

"It's fun, you'll see." Tusto smiled.

"But if I get a master, I'll get so busy with my new studies that I won't get to spend time with you anymore."

"We'll still spend time together." The older teen laughed. "I've been a padawan for many years now, and I've still been able to make plenty of time for you."

"But that was easy." She argued in her prepubescent, high-pitched voice. "When you weren't busy, you could just swing by. But if I get a master, we'll have to both be… not busy. And if our schedules don't collide properly…"

"You've gotta' get a master at some point." He reasoned patiently, smile never fading.

Barriss looked up at him. His positive perspective on everything was so…calming. He finally made it seem like it wouldn't be so bad, and possibly fun.

Tutso leaned over and hugged her comfortingly before he stood up to leave the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

"The meeting will be fine. Master or no master in the end, we'll always be friends. And you'll get used to the change." He added before leaving.

Barriss was completely nerve-racked. Terrified. She knew it had to happen at some point, but why now? She wanted more time. A further notice.

"Please help me." She whispered, praying to whatever deity would listen. "I'm scared. I don't know how to take this."

She wanted to be happy, but she felt overwhelmed. She didn't even know who was going to take her in. Gender, species, attitude, she knew nothing. It was a total stranger.

 _What if my master doesn't love me…_

The thought was ravaging. Then, more things started to pop into her head like 'what if my master hates children' and 'what if my master is really mean'.

Barriss shook her head to clear it, her short black hair bouncing with the movement.

 _It'll be alright,_ she told herself over and over again as she left the gardens and walked outside, dreading, yet anticipating, the meeting to come.

* * *

"Are you excited Luma'?" Vallary asked, jumping a little as they walked in the park.

"Yeah." She said doubtfully.

"Alright, spill it."

"It's just… Most masters love their padawans…but I don't want mine the same way most people do. So, what if I don't feel the same way… What if I don't love her?"

Vallary said nothing.

Mace Windu was standing in the shade of an oak tree, waiting for them to arrive.

"Greetings." He bowed.

"Greetings," the two women returned.

"This is the youngling the council has suggested for you. Her name is Barriss Offee. Wait, where…" Mace Windu looked around, trying to find the girl. Movement caught Luminara's eye. They all looked up to see the child sitting on one of the lower branches of the tree.

"Come on." Master Windu beckoned, slightly frustrated.

Barriss jumped down and stared shyly at the ground. Mace Windu put a hand on her shoulder before leaving. The young girl turned her gaze upward.

Luminara cocked her head curiously at the diffident child. She was beautiful. Her eyes portrayed so much. She looked shy, yet curious; hesitant, yet eager.

Gentle, beautiful, eager to learn, inquisitive, adorable, trusting, thoughtful. This girl was nothing like Luminara expected. From _any_ padawan for that matter.

"Hi there." Vallary said sweetly. "I'm Vallary Winn, and this is Luminara Unduli."

Barriss opened her mouth, but closed it again as she looked away timidly. Luminara's lips twitched upward in a small smile.

"Do you want to take a walk?" Vallary asked.

The youth looked up, her luminous blue eyes racing with emotions and expressions, yet her face remained the same.

"Come on. Let's go." The human gestured as she began to walk through the park. Luminara walked beside her friend a few meters forward, but stopped as she realized Barriss was still standing there.

"You coming, young one?" Luminara asked as they both stopped and turned to look at her.

Overwhelmed by the sudden attention on her, Barriss turned her head and shrank away, quietly walking a few steps in the opposite direction.

"She seems a little shy." Vallary said teasingly.

"You think? We'd have better luck trying to tame a deer." Luminara replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. They turned back to find Barriss gone.

"What the. Where-" Luminara cut herself short as Vallary tapped on her shoulder and gestured towards a tree. The Mirialian saw Barriss behind it, face and hands against the trunk.

"Luminara, look at her. She's adorable. You can't say you don't want her."

Luminara _didn't_ want her… Well, at least she _wanted_ to not want her. However, the child was growing on her, too.

Vallary trotted over to the tree and stood next to Barriss. "We don't bite." She teased, receiving no reply other than a cringe as the youth tried even harder to hide. Vallary leaned casually against the tree, switching methods now.

"You know, you climbed that tree pretty good earlier. I used to climb trees all the time when I was a kid. One of my favorite things was exploring. One time it took me too far, though. I intended on swinging across a river on a vine. But the vine broke."

Barriss turned her head a fraction, just enough to peek around her own hand and look at Vallary.

"I fell in. And aside from getting wet, I actually got hurt, too. I was in medical care for three days. I went right back to that river the moment I got out. Never learned my lesson… What about you? What do you like to do?"

Barriss looked down, but didn't hide her face. Weather she was thinking or afraid to answer, Luminara couldn't tell.

"Do you like to garden?" Luminara asked, trying to connect.

"Circus?"

"I doubt she likes circus, Val'."

"Hey, she can like what she wants."

Barriss mumbled something inaudible after a short pause.

"I'm sorry, one more time?" The Mirialian said politely. Barriss repeated it…quieter. Frustrated, Luminara let Vallary take over again before she lost her temper.

"We can't quite hear you, sweetie. Could you say it a little louder?"

"I, I like horses." She said, voice barely more than a whisper. After hearing the girl speak for the first time, Luminara couldn't believe how high pitched her voice was. She wasn't used to it at all. She was used to the deep, mature voices of adults and older women.

"Horses? Really? What kind?"

"All kinds… Mustangs especially."

"Mustangs, huh? How come?"

Barriss raised her head a little more. "Mostly because there aren't many left. And they're so good at surviving, I guess there's just something…special about them."

"Do you ever ride horses?"

"Yes. Ever since I could walk."

"That's quite a long time. You must enjoy it."

Barriss nodded, smiling a small, but genuine, smile.

"So, would you like to walk now?" Luminara asked as gently as she could.

"Walk where?" Barriss asked tentatively.

"Anywhere."

Barriss finally left her tree and hesitantly slunk out into the open. Luminara smiled fondly at Barriss's lack of confidence. It was somewhat cute.

"You are the cutest, most beautiful, most adorable thing I've ever seen… How could I ever think I wouldn't love you?" Luminara said under her breath.

They began their walk. Barriss opened up a little more along the way, before shutting down quickly at a point when they both laughed at her. Now, they couldn't get her to talk. They weren't even laughing _at_ her, they were laughing _with_ her. However, she didn't take it that way.

"Oh, please say something. We really weren't laughing at you." Vallary insisted. Barriss said nothing. Vallary smiled as she reached a hand to tickle her underarm.

"That doesn't hurt." Barriss said softly, obviously stifling laughter at the same time.

"It's not supposed to hurt, it's supposed tickle." Vallary laughed, making another move.

"It doesn't hurt." Barriss repeated. Vallary and Luminara looked at each other and laughed.

"Maybe not. But you're still adorable." Luminara giggled. Barriss flushed and shied away, making no further eye contact.

Luminara groped for something to say to the sensitive creature before her. She couldn't think of much. All that came out was, "Would you like to go home now?"

Barriss looked up at her hesitantly, with no clear expression apart from her uneasiness. Luminara wasn't sure what she was trying to say.

"Can you translate that into Basic?" Vallary teased. Barriss looked at her, dumbfounded and dead serious.

 _My, you're peculiar,_ Luminara thought to herself. She couldn't help it. She had completely fallen in love with this youngling.

 _The responsibility,_ she reminded herself. _It takes a lot of patience, time, discipline, and care to take care of a padawan._ Still, she was no further in either direction on weather she should really take the kid in.

Then it struck her. "So, Barriss, do you like me?"

Barriss snapped her head up in shock. "What- What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you think it could work out? Master and padawan?"

Barriss hesitated for a long moment. "I don't… I don't know. I don't really kn-know you that well."

"That's okay, I understand. How about this; we take a standard month to get to know each other, and then we make the final decision."

The youth cocked her head slightly to one side and said in her usual soft, high-pitched voice, "You're letting _me_ help with the decision?"

"Well, it's your life we're changing, too."

Barriss slowly smiled, eyes lighting up with elation. Luminara beamed at the girl's reaction and turned to Vallary.

"I knew if you just thought about it, you'd change your mind." Vallary smiled. "Children are a gift. Everyone should experience that gift. Think about it, Luma'. We as Jedi aren't allowed to have a spouse, let alone children. So, we take in younglings to care for. The temple could just train them all the way through, but they don't, _we_ take them. Why? Because children are wonderful, and everyone should care for a child at some point."

As Luminara thought about it, she began to see her friend's point.

"There's this thing we women have," Vallary smirked. "It's called maternal nature. Which means we naturally want to tend to infants, sentient or animal."

Luminara gave her a smug look. "Yeah, so Barriss- Where'd she go?"

Vallary and Luminara glanced around. The Mirialian tapped her friends shoulder and pointed to one of the trees. Barriss was messing around on one of the branches.

"Trying to be a gymnast?" Vallary kidded. The girl didn't answer.

"We should probably go home, it's getting dark."

Still no reply.

"Barriss, come down from there."

Barriss looked at her curiously before jumping down. The two friends talked on the way back to the temple while Barriss remained silent, staring timidly at her hands or the ground.

"See you tomorrow, Vallary." Luminara waved as her friend left. "Barriss?"

The teen shied away from the address and started fiddling with her skirt.

 _Force, this girl is_ painfully _shy._

"Barriss?" She tried again. The girl cautiously turned her gaze and looked up.

"I know it seems weird and new, new things and people can be scary. But I promise you that in time, just like every padawan and master here, our bond will become unbreakable."

"Unbreakable?" She echoed.

"Yes. Unbreakable. I'll love you forever."

Barriss smiled shyly.

"Barriss!" An older teen called from a ways away.

"Coming, Tutso!" Barriss called back cheerfully. Then much more quietly, "I have to- to go."

"That's fine. I'll see you the day after tomorrow, alright?"

"Alright. Bye." She whispered with a small, tentative wave.

 _Master… I guess it's not just a responsibility. It's an honor._

Looking forward to the times to come and the things the two of them could do together, Luminara went inside the temple. She stopped a moment, taking one last look at the children in the courtyard, Barriss included, playing and talking as the sun set.

She was shy, gentle, sweet, much different from most other younglings. But Luminara loved that about her. Her job being her master would just be… _special_. She wasn't about to back down though. She loved that girl… What wasn't to love?

* * *

 **Me: Yay! I'm done! I really hope you liked it. Please read and review! And also, if you have any favorite characters you feel are ignored, leave a review or PM telling me who you wanna see, and what you want it to be about, and I'll see if I can do something great. Say bye you guys!**

 **Luminara: Bye everyone. Please review.**

 **Vallary: Join the circus!**

 **Mace Windu: I don't do goodbyes.**

 **Tutso: Later, friends. Say bye, Barriss.**

 **Barriss: Um... I... B... *looks at the ground***

 **Tusto: Wave... *grabs her hand and waves it for her***

 **Me: That's a wrap! See you next time!**


End file.
